by Jack Cheng
I came back out here and made breakfast and then I called Cheryl at animal control again, and she said, Hi Alex, still nothing. I said, Oh, OK . . . And then I borrowed Nathan’s laptop but it was hard to concentrate because I kept thinking about Carl Sagan, and I forgot why I even went on the laptop in the first place. Then I just went onto Rocketforum.
Everyone on Rocketforum was talking about the Mars satellite mission. The launch is in three days and CivSpace is going to live-stream it like they did with their last one, and I can’t wait to watch it! Skywalker team posted some pictures of Lander Civet standing in front of their college and giving them a big check for winning the Civet Prize, the check was SO big, and afterwards Lander gave a speech to the students and announced the next Civet Prize, which is to design the spacecraft that can best survive a simulated landing on Mars. The new prize is huge, it’s a million dollars! I can’t wait to tell Steve about it because he’ll be really excited again now that there’s a huge prize. Some people just need the extra motivation.
Oh yeah, I got an e-mail from Benji finally! It had some pictures of him at a baseball game at Wrigley Field and him holding a fish they caught on Lake Michigan, and him and his mom and sister standing in front of a giant silver bean. That bean was SO huge. I wrote back to Benji and I told him the guys and me went to Las Vegas to find my dad but we lost Carl Sagan at Zelda’s so we put up posters and called animal control, and then I met my Terra and saw her apartment which was a lot smaller than Paul Chung’s apartment, and then we came to LA but we stopped at a lake because Terra really wanted to go swimming and we got here and Steve has so many Battlemorphs boosters, I’ll see if I can get him one, and then we went to Ronnie’s condo except he’s in Detroit so we watched the sunset at Venice Beach and saw skateboarders and guys doing street gymnastics and then Steve and Terra had LOX and vodka and we were all dancing but not twerking, and we watched Contact except Terra fell asleep so we have to—
[door opening and closing]
ALEX: —finish watching it.
ALEX: Hey Steve!
ALEX: What’s that behind your back?
STEVE: It’s a surprise for Terra.
ALEX: Can I see?
STEVE: Sure, but keep it down.
ALEX (whispering): They’re daisies!
STEVE: Do you think she’ll like them?
ALEX: She’ll love them. I’m suuuuure.
STEVE: Is she still sleeping?
ALEX: Nah, she’s in Nathan’s room and they’re talking in private.
STEVE: They’re talking . . .
ALEX: Yeah. They were just sitting on—
ALEX: Steve, make sure you knock first! They’re having a private conversation!
[door opening]
TERRA (distant): At least he—
STEVE: What . . .
STEVE: What the h—
[muffled yelling]
TERRA: Stop! . . . you’re . . .
[hurried footsteps]
ALEX: Guys? What are you . . .
TERRA: Oh god, he’s bleed—
STEVE: Let GO of me—
TERRA: Stop! Just stop!
ALEX: Steve, stop! Why are you guys—
TERRA: Look what you’re—
STEVE: Shut up! Shut u . . . y . . . [muffled]
ALEX: What . . .
STEVE: You heard me! Your sister is nothing but a—
TERRA: STOP IT.
[Alex crying]
TERRA: Look what you’re doing. What is your problem?
STEVE: MY problem? I thought we were— I thought you— Why did it have to be Nath—
TERRA: We were just talking!
STEVE: Right, sure. You were just—
TERRA: We WERE!
STEVE: Stop lying to me! All I ever tried to do was be nice!
STEVE: I bought you flowers!
STEVE: I bought them for—HERE. Take your stupid daisies—
[Alex crying]
TERRA: Alex . . .
STEVE: Take this one, and this one, and—
TERRA: Alex, are you OK?
STEVE: —take all of them!
ALEX: I want to go home.
TERRA: I’ll take you home, Alex. We’ll go—
STEVE: That’s right, take him home. Take him home to his deadbeat mom. That should’ve happened DAYS AGO. He shouldn’t even BE HERE.
TERRA: Can’t you see you’re making him—
STEVE: I don’t want anything to do with your dysfunctional—
TERRA: Alex, don’t listen to him.
STEVE: No, listen to ME, Alex, because none of them are going to tell you the truth.
TERRA: Don’t—
STEVE: You’re never going to make a rocket that goes into space. It’s impossible! You’re a kid. A kid is never going to make a rocket that goes into—
TERRA: That’s ENOUGH. Stop talking to him like—
STEVE: Like what? Like an adult? You want to lie to him and tell him everything’s going to be OK, that he’s going to do by himself what took thousands of people billions of dollars to do? And what do you think it’ll solve Alex, HUH? You think it’ll somehow bring your dad back or make your brother not want to—
TERRA: ENOUGH.
STEVE: —I have news for you, kid. You’re going to wake up twenty years from now and your life is going to be a piece of—
TERRA: STEVE.
STEVE: —and the people who pretend to be your friends are going to stab you in the back—
TERRA: I wasn’t— Nathan didn’t—
STEVE: That’s right, keep denying it. You think I’m an idiot, don’t you? Well maybe I AM. Maybe it takes an IDIOT like me to tell Alex here how things work in the real world. An IDIOT who’s not just going to feed him a bunch of false hopes!
STEVE: I’ll tell you what, Alex, this IDIOT is going to do you a huge favor. He’s going to throw your iPod out the—
[rustling]
[Alex crying]
TERRA: Don’t you—
STEVE: Give me th—
NEW RECORDING 31
12M 49S
TERRA: —and an order of fries. Uh-huh.
TERRA: Alex, do you want anything else?
ALEX: Can we have fries à la mode?
TERRA: Do you have ice cream? Yeah. No.
TERRA: Are ice cream sandwiches OK?
ALEX: OK.
TERRA: Yeah, they’re fine. Room 325. Thanks.
[hanging up phone]
ALEX: I wish you guys could have seen Terra. Steve was trying to take my Golden iPod and Terra was trying to stop him, and we were all pulling and pulling and then Terra punched him in the face.
TERRA: Yeah, well. He deserved it.
ALEX: I was really surprised you punched him. I think you gave him a black eye.
TERRA: I was surprised myself. And how we all just stood there, and he had that look on his face like—
TERRA: God, even thinking about it—
TERRA: He just makes me so mad.
ALEX: But it makes no sense. He brought you daisies! Why was he so mad and yelling at everyone and why would he try to hurt Nathan when you guys were just talking, and why did YOU hit HIM? Violence isn’t the answer to anything.
TERRA: I thought Steve was going to hurt you too. I couldn’t let him do that.
ALEX: So you hurt him before he could hurt me . . .
ALEX: I still don’t understand why he was so mad though. I know he likes you . . . Did he think you liked Nathan? Was it because I told him you and Nathan were having a private—
TERRA: Hey. No. This has nothing to do with you, OK?
TERRA: Steve just thought . . .
ALEX: What?
ALEX: He thought what, Terra?
TERRA: Yes, he thought I liked Nathan
. But it’s more than that too. Sometimes people get into fights because they think . . . because they want the other person to be something that the other person isn’t. Or doesn’t want to be. They try to control people and when they find out they can’t, they lose their sh—they can’t handle it.
ALEX: But I thought he already had a girlfriend . . . Doesn’t he love her?
TERRA: Steve doesn’t understand what it means to be in love.
ALEX: What does it—
TERRA: I’ve met guys like him—they’re not even real guys, they’re just overgrown boys.
ALEX: I’m a boy.
TERRA: But at some point you’ll become an adult, Alex. And when you do, you won’t treat people the way Steve does. I know you won’t.
TERRA: Forget about Steve. We’re never seeing him again, OK?
ALEX: OK, but can you tell me what happened after Steve ran out of the apartment? I fell asleep. Tell them too.
TERRA: Alex, maybe you shouldn’t record anything for a wh—
ALEX: Please?
TERRA: Alex—
ALEX: Please please please please pleaaase?
TERRA: All right.
TERRA: You did fall asleep, rocket scientist. You went to Zed’s room to get away from all the drama and then you passed out. I don’t blame you, I was exhausted from it too.
TERRA: I went in the bathroom and helped Nathan clean up some of the blood. Thank god his nose wasn’t broken or anything, just swollen, and he had a small cut under his eye from his glasses.
TERRA: Then I packed up all our stuff and I told him I was taking you home to Rockview. I didn’t want to be around when Steve got back.
ALEX: And that’s when I woke up.
TERRA: That’s when you woke up.
ALEX: And then we said good-bye to Nathan and I told him to tell Zed I’m sorry we couldn’t stay and I hope he got lightened at his meditation seminar.
ALEX: What did Nathan say to you?
TERRA: Well, I told him I was sorry about the mess and he was just like, It happens. To be honest I was a little mad at him too, for not doing more. For not fighting back. But who knows, maybe Steve’s pulled this kind of stuff before and Nathan’s used to it.
ALEX: Terra, have you ever stayed in a hotel?
TERRA: I have, a few times.
ALEX: This one is so nice. The sheets are folded really good.
TERRA (laughing): I figured we could live it up for a night—we’ve still got a lot more road ahead of us.
ALEX: Can we see the Grand Canyon tomorrow?
TERRA: I wish we could, but we need to get you home. Did you call your mom?
ALEX: I called her when you were in the shower and I told her we’re coming back.
TERRA: What’d she say?
ALEX: She didn’t say anything. I just left a message because she doesn’t like to answer the phone when she’s having one of her quiet days.
TERRA: Alex—
ALEX: You should call your mom too, Terra.
TERRA: And tell her what?
ALEX: Tell her you’re taking me back to Rockview and you love her.
TERRA: I don’t need another person yelling at me. I’ve had enough of that today.
ALEX: How do you know she’s going to yell at you?
TERRA: I just know.
ALEX: Then I’ll call her for you, and you can tell me what you want to say to her and I’ll say it, and I’ll tell you what she says back, and that way you won’t have to hear her yelling at you.
TERRA: I wouldn’t put you through that.
ALEX: Here, take your phone.
TERRA: —
ALEX: Please?
TERRA: All right.
TERRA: Only because you asked.
ALEX (whispering): OK guys, Terra’s calling her mom.
TERRA: Hey. It’s me.
TERRA: Donna, I know—
ALEX: Tell her you love her.
TERRA: Mom—
TERRA: I love you.
TERRA: No, nothing’s wrong—
TERRA: Why does there have to be something—
TERRA: Yeah. No.
TERRA: Sorry if I worried you.
TERRA: Yeah, he’s still with me.
TERRA: I’m not in Vegas right now, that’s why I wasn’t there.
TERRA: You don’t want to know. I’m taking him home to Colorado.
TERRA: It’s hard for me to explain right now.
TERRA: They don’t seem—
TERRA: He doesn’t really have anyone else.
TERRA: I know, I’ll be careful, Mom. I know.
TERRA: I’m not sure when.
TERRA: Uh-huh. Tell Howard I said hi.
TERRA: You too. Bye.
[sniffling]
ALEX: Did she yell at you?
TERRA: Come here. Give me a hug.
[rustling]
ALEX: Terra?
TERRA: Hmm.
ALEX: Is it true what Steve said?
TERRA: About what?
ALEX: That it’s impossible for me to launch a rocket into space.
TERRA: Steve’s a jerk. Don’t let anyone tell you something’s impossible.
ALEX: But if it’s the truth like he said, I want to know. Is it?
TERRA: It’s . . . very tough.
ALEX: But is it impossible?
TERRA: It’s not impossible. But it’s probably more than one person can handle on their own. All those rocket scientists had a lot of help, and it took them a crazy amount of work and time. Maybe longer than you can imagine right now.
ALEX: I can imagine a lot.
TERRA: I know you can. And if there’s anyone who can launch that rocket, I think it’s you, Alex. Not a lot of people have what you have.
ALEX: What do I have?
TERRA: You have a plan, a mission. You know what you want. Most people give up on what they want. They’ll come across the first little obstacle and they’ll give up, and then they’ll try to tear down the people they see doing what they felt like they couldn’t. That’s what Steve was trying to do. It was about him, not me or you.
ALEX: I have something else too now.
TERRA: What is it?
ALEX: I have a Terra. And you’re going to be my lot of help, you’re going to help me find all the sounds from Earth and we’re going to redouble our efforts and build Voyager 4 together, and next year we’ll go to SHARF again to launch it.
TERRA: Alex . . .
ALEX: It’s weird though, because I keep thinking about what the older kid said—
TERRA: The older kid?
ALEX: The one who pretended to be my adult and helped me get on the train but then he got sick, remember? I thought you listened to my recordings!
TERRA: OK, the older kid, yeah. Remind me what he said.
ALEX: He said he hopes I find what I’m looking for. And I hoped so too, but what’s weird is that I was looking for sounds from Earth and a man in love and then I found out I had a maybe dad, and then I was looking for my maybe dad but I found my Terra instead, and I’m glad I found you, I’m SO glad, but I still don’t really have a dad and I don’t have a man in love either because I don’t think it’s Steve, and it’s like, I’m never finding what I’m looking for, I’m always finding something else, and there are other things I’m looking for too now, like Carl Sagan, so am I not going to find him either?
TERRA: That’s not true—
ALEX: Then what is?
ALEX: What is, Terra?
[knocking on door]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Room service.
TERRA: That’s our food . . .
ALEX: Terra?
ALEX: Tell me, are we going to find him?
ALEX: What’s the truth?
[knocking on d
oor]
TERRA: I don’t know.
ALEX: You don’t know?
TERRA: The truth is I don’t know.
ALEX: But there’s a chance, right? It’s not impossible.
TERRA: There’s definitely a chance.
[knocking on door]
TERRA: There’s always a chance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Room service.
NEW RECORDING 32
3M 29S
Hi guys, I called Ronnie again this morning when we left the hotel. I told him, Me and Terra are on our way back to Rockview and how’s it going with your prospective client? And he said, What! I told you to stay in LA! and he was shouting and there was a lot of noise in the background, I think he was at his basketball showcase. I told him again that me and Terra are going back to Rockview except I shouted it so he could hear me, and he said, Fine! Even better! Call me when you get home!
We’ve been driving for six hours already but we weren’t driving for all those six hours, we stopped at gas stations and for lunch. We’re at a gas station right now. Terra really wanted to get to Rockview tonight but she said she doesn’t think she can drive for another six hours, so how about let’s try to reach Santa Fe before dark and find a motel? I said, Why don’t we sleep in the car or find a place to go camping because I don’t want my Terra to waste all her money, and she said camping is a great idea.
I started looking on Google Maps for camping places and it said we’re going to drive near Taos, New Mexico, and I remembered that Ken Russell’s store is Taos, New Mexico!
I showed Terra the business card Ken gave me at SHARF and she said we should call him, maybe he’ll let us crash, and I said, But if we crash then how are we going to get to Rockview without fixing the car? Terra laughed and said it’s not that kind of crashing, it’s the other kind, like when you’re at a friend’s house and it’s late and you’re too tired to drive home so you spend the night. I said, Oh, you mean like a sleepover, and Terra said that’s exactly it, we’ll call Ken and ask him if we can have a sleepover in his yard.
I called Ken Russell and I said, Hey Ken, it’s me, we met at SHARF and I helped you set up the launchurdles and I tried to launch Voyager 3 but it failed and you gave me a T-shirt for Best First Effort, and then I went to Las Vegas with Steve and Zed and my pup Carl Sagan who you met also, but we lost him at Zelda’s and we looked for him and put up posters and called animal control but they haven’t seen him, and then we went to my maybe dad’s address and I met my Terra and we went to LA with the guys but Ronnie wasn’t home, and we had a dance party and Steve broke Nathan’s glasses and made his nose bleed and he tried to take my iPod so Terra gave him a black eye and now she’s taking me back to Rockview and last night we stayed in a hotel and now we’re on I-40 and we’ll be in Taos, New Mexico, in two and a half hours and can we crash at your house but the sleepover kind of crash, not the accident kind.